If you are thinking about making a candle making business, here is a quick step by step guide that will help you turn your venture into a real money making business.

1. Decide on What Candle You Want to Sell

That would be your niche defining your business. The variety of candle types out there is huge, so be clear on what you want to make and sell.

Some of the more popular ones are hand dip tapered candles, and natural candles using waxes from soy and palm (these have gained great followings lately) like Mia Bella candles.

Beeswax and honeycomb candles represent yet another category of popular natural wax candles.

Once you have decided the material to be used for your candle production, you can go on to make gel candles, aromatherapy or container candles.

If you are inclined, maybe you want to experiment with confectionery candles, a special genre of candles that reproduce the look and smell of popular food items. Through molding process, there is no limit on how you want to shape your candles.

Alternatively, you could decorate your candles to add visual impact; you can use anything from flowers to paint.

2. Learn How to Make Candles

Invest time to acquire the necessary skills on candles making. You can enroll in a class organized by the neighborhood craft shop or buy a book for this purpose.

Alternatively, check out the internet on free Internet video or free online tutorials on how to make homemade candles.

And don’t forget practice.

You could spend long hours picking up skills on candle making but until you get your hands dirty, all these efforts would be in vain.

3. Legal Issues

You need a license issued by your city before you can run your little retail business—note that there could be variations in requirements subject to your location of operation. Some requirements cover a fictitious name certificate (DBA), Employer Identification Number or sales and use tax permit.

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For candles production at home, you will have to deal with a separate set of legal issues.

In general, you have to pay attention to permits, taxes, licenses and especially insurance.

Getting insurance coverage may be tricky if you plan to produce candles at home, primarily due to the flammable nature of candles.

Of course, as with other sorts of merchandise, you need to have proper labeling system to mark your candles, in order to conform with the local and federal standards established.

A great place to learn about the laws and regulations regarding starting a small business is the Small Business Administration’s website.

4. Buy Supplies from Wholesaler

Candles can be made from a wide variety of source materials, so naturally prices vary.

Subject to the sorts of waxes and oils used in their production, it has an impact on your cost.

But usually, there is a healthy margin for every candle you make.

For example, soy and palm waxes are more expensive than paraffin or gel, but you will make more money when you sell these sorts of candles.

Most raw materials used in candles production are relatively low, but the extra ingredients like oils, fragrances and waxes tend to be higher in cost and there is also a huge variation in costs among them. Still, the total costs that go towards candle making are not considered substantial.

Getting your supplies from wholesalers always ensures a significant saving, or you pay through your nose if you buy from a retail outlet like a craft store.

5. Packaging

Work on the packaging for your candles.

Packaging provides the differentiation between your candle brand and the competitions. Ultimately packaging is the first time the consumers can see.

My advice is to stick to a consistent marketing message. If you sell candles that mimic the look and smell of desserts, bakery boxes like packaging could immediately strike a chord with the market.

If you want to project an eco-friendly message with your candles, use raffia to tie around your candle containers, with labeling done on a recycled paper.

6. Find Customers

Find as many outlets as possible to sell your candles.

On the internet, you could hawk them at your own e-commerce website, or promote them at an Internet artisan marketplace.

You could even sell on eBay and Etsy.com

On land, bring your presence to flea markets, bazaars, local craft fairs, a brick-and-mortar storefront, or you could strike a deal to sell your candles at bath and body boutiques, and home decor stores.

7. Marketing, Marketing and Marketing!

Whether you are selling candy or cars, marketing is one of the most important parts of the whole deal.

To start, create a website or blog dedicated to candles.

You could also send samples to magazines and other publications well patronized by your intended market so they could review your candles.

And finally, join a candle retailers group like the National Candle Association. This is an excellent place to network with suppliers and get connected with potential customers.

8. Make Money

Depending on factors like the size, ingredients, and designs of your candles, you can expect to pocket a few dollars to over $20 from every candle sales.

Obviously, the most important factor is still how much the market is willing to pay for them.

Another way to make more money is to sell directly to a distributors or specialty stores.

A candle making business has a few great benefits that not many other businesses offer.

You know, I actually think the best way to go about it is to start with family and friends. And yes, do use Facebook and other social media sites to get the word out. You should also create a Facebook page for your candle business.

Amazon started from a garage, and now look at it. As long as you get it going, everything else will work itself out. Good luck.

Hi,
It was really an interesting article. Thank u for this. Very soon i will start my own candle business and my focus will be natural candles. But as per my study in india right now the market for natural candles are not that tempting(though few organizations are doing preety good). I want to tap our indian market and some international market as well. Can you help me out on how should i plan to sell my candles outside indian market. I am lost here.

Ia think the b est ways to start is to first target the Indian market. Once you got that covered, I think a good website and some advertising can be the easiest and quickest way to tap into the international market. You could even try sites like Etsy and even eBay.

Well, that’s actually the most important part of starting any business, research. I would do some research to find out what kind of candle the Indian market prefers and take it from there. You could even survey friends, family, coworker, neighbors and so on. Start small and grow your company as you go on. Good luck Yogananda.

Saba, there are a lot of websites and blogs dedicated to that. A quick search on Google will yield a lot of results. Just visit some of those sites and I am sure you can get step by step direction on how to make your own scented candles with natural stuff around you. Good luck.

It’s a new site, so there’s that :) but I’m already seeing traffic increases and Google hasn’t quite found us yet. Grassroots advertising :) When more candle makers open their stores (soon), it will probably explode :)

Satrapsays

I see.

Thanks, Allen.

Patricesays

Hi I started making scented candles at home and now I’m ready to put it out there, but I still need little help on how to get my website going.i am making pillar and container candles with different shapes and sizes

Hello, I am wanting to make candles and wax melts in my hone for resale occasionally, and maybe for a yardsale now and then. I will only be making a few batches per yr and was wanting to know if I needed a licesne/permit for doing so?

Is the candlemaking4you website legit? It really feels like a scam website. This seems to be the only place that is a third party that mentions it. All of the reviews of it seem to be from the company itself.

Sam, it is a legit site, but keep in mind that they just sell you the information, what you do with that info is up to you. You still have to do the work yourself.

Now, I am sure you can probably find all the info they packed into their ebook/system by searching online, but you’d have to spend a lot of time sifting through stuff to find the real useful information that can help you start your own candle making business from home.

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